In this case that would be the three-woman, eight-man band puts the steel, and the musical punch and precision, in Steely Dan.

On Wednesday night at San Diego's Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, that band – fondly dubbed the Bipolar Allstars by Steely Dan co-founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker – re-animated and elevated some of the most sophisticated and technically challenging songs in the modern pop-rock lexicon.

It was a heady display of heavy mettle. And it enabled Becker and Fagen to rise to new heights as they essayed four decades worth of hits and deep album cuts with equal fire and finesse.

Humphreys Concerts by the Bay also draws music fans into the bay, where droves of so-called "boat people" often gather to enjoy performances by top artists. The floating fans are a unique part of the Humphreys legacy.
— John Gastaldo

The Allstars soared throughout, whether swinging with brassy, big-band jazz verve, getting low down and bluesy, rocking out or laying down percolating funk and R&B grooves that simmered and sizzled. In some instances, they covered all these bases during the course of a single, seamless, genre-leaping (and mixing) song.

More impressive still, the ensemble often bettered the performances of the top studio musicians who performed on Steely Dan’s meticulous, note-perfect albums. They brought alive intricate songs that were originally created solely to be recorded (and which were pieced together from numerous takes), not performed on stage. They also injected a degree of verve and spontaneity that allowed the music to breathe and expand in welcome new ways, but without sacrificing the pinpoint dynamic control and meticulous attention to detail that Becker and Fagen’s songs require.

It’s no surprise, then, that Steely Dan’s two co-leaders singled this talent-packed ensemble out for praise during a recent phone interview with U-T San Diego – albeit with a large dose of the sly humor that has long been the duo’s trademark.

“I do like the opening part of our concerts, where we don’t have to do anything until the band plays,” Fagen said.

“That’s great,” Becker agreed. “And the end, too, is also very good. It never sounds better than when you're hearing them recede in the distance as you head for your chariot.”

At Wednesday’s sold-out concert, the Allstars opened with a propulsive instrumental romp through the 1959 Art Farmer jazz classic “Blueport” and closed with a brief rendition of the Nelson Riddle-penned theme song to the TV series “The Untouchables,” which debuted in 1959.

In between came 18 Steely Dan gems, beginning with “Your Gold Teeth.” A song from the band’s second album, 1973’s “Countdown to Ecstasy,” the deviously constructed “Teeth” clocked in at eight minutes but didn’t have a single extraneous note or musical gesture.

Neither did “Aja,” “Josie,” the dramatically rearranged “Show Biz Kids,” the seldom played “Razor Boy” (on which Michael Leonhart’s heady trumpet playing replaced the pedal-steel guitar solo on the original recording), or many of the other subsequent selections. This held true even when those songs were stretched and reshaped through fiery instrumental solos and expanded arrangements.

While each band member performed with impressive skill and panache, special mention must go to Keith Carlock, whose drumming was both impeccable and dazzling throughout. Kudos, too, for Steely Dan's audio engineer, who achieved a near-perfect sound balance despite having to mix four vocalists and 10 instrumentalists.)